This blog consists of PhotoFeature Stories on artists of all genres, human interest stories, guest blog posts, book reviews, and book excerpts.
CHRIS RICE COOPER is a newspaper writer, feature stories writer, poet, fiction writer, photographer, and painter.
She has a Bachelor's in Criminal Justice and is close to completing her Master's in Creative Writing.
She, her husband Wayne, sons Nicholas and Caleb, cats Nation and Alaska reside in the St. Louis area.

“Writing is a solitary
occupation and you spend a lot of time in your own head. But because I had been
so passionate about this book for so long and had already read and researched
so much, it was in some ways much easier than other novels I’ve written. It was
a very important novel to me. I really wanted to tell this story for young
readers. All of those feelings and emotions poured out on the page. I’ve gotten
some very moving letters from readers who obviously connected with the book on
an emotional level.”

--Michael
P Spradlin on Into The Killing Seas

It is December 1941 and 9-year-old Patrick and his younger
brother Teddy have been living in Manila, Philippines for the past year where
his father helps Filipinos build an automatic factory owned by Mr. Henry
Ford.

But now the last things on their minds is their father’s job at
the factory; instead, the family is now rushing to catch a flight heading
toward San Francisco just as the Japanese are about to attack Manila.

There is just one problem – there are only two seats
available.

Their parents, both devout Catholics, urge their sons to take
the remaining two seats on their own for their own safety.

Fortunately their mother notices a nun, Sister Felicity and begs
her to take of her boys and watch over them.Sister Felicity is one of those rare nuns – compassionate, loving, not
the typical nuns you see on television who are stoic and like to use a wooden
paddle to hit your hands when you do something wrong.

Sister Felicity is their lifeline as they fly from the
Philippines with a refueling stop in Guam and then hopefully to their final
destination of San Francisco, but due to the Japanese planes in the area of
Guam, the three are forced to stay in Guam.

Sister Felicity watches over the boys in Guam, even when she is
very ill.Soon the Japanese attack the
area and Sister Felicity urges the boys to leave her and run into the jungle
for safety.

A small band of
Chamorro Guam natives find the boys and take them under their wing – and for
the next three years train the boys how to survive in the jungle and how to
hide from the Japanese.

Soon the American forces take over Guam and there they meet
Benjamin Franklin Poindexter, Private First Class United States Marine Corp who
has been assigned to the USS Indianapolis which is to set sail toward the Philippines
where Patrick and Teddy’s parents are.The three concoct a plan to sneak the two boys onto the ship with the
goal of getting the two boys free passage to Philippines without anyone knowing
about it except Benny.

But, on July 30, 1945, fourteen minutes passed midnight their
plan as well as their lives goes awry:The USS Indianapolis is sunk by Japanese torpedoes and they find
themselves clinging on a piece of debris, without food or water, and with
hungry sharks circling below.

Now it was the sharks.
There were sharks in the water.
And from the sound of it, they were all around those men. I stopped paddling and floated there, waiting
for someone, anyone, to tell me what to do.
Benny was too far gone at the moment to realize what was happening.

And then, below the surface of the water, something hard and
scaly brushed against my leg.

The sharks had found us.

And just like the other men had, I screamed.

Excerpt, page 76.

Michael P. Spradlin
grew up the son of a World War Two Veteran in Homer, Michigan.

“Growing up, almost every man my father’s
age that I knew was a veteran of the war.This was an entire generation who served.And as I said, they saved the world.And when the war was over, they came back
home, set down their duffel bags, and picked up where they had left off.My father, who very rarely spoke of his war
experiences, one told me they did just what needed to be done.”

Michael P Spradlin knew from an early age what needed to be done
in his life – to pursue a career in history and writing.After graduating from Homer High School, he
attended Central Michigan University where he received a degree in History.

He is now the author of more than twenty books, most of them
geared toward young adults and most of them on the New York Times bestseller
list.

“I have been nominated
for an Edgar Award for my novel Spy
Goddess: Live and Let Shop, winner of the Wrangler Award from the National
Cowboy Museum and Hall of Fame for my picture book, OFF LIKE THE WIND: The First Ride of the Pony Express. My most
recent novel is The Enemy Above: A Novel
of World War II.”

In writing most of his novels,
specifically Into The Killing Seas, Spradlin’s job is two-fold – that of a
researcher and a fiction writer.

“Given that Into the Killing
Seas is set in World War II, there are ample photographs of the ship before
the attack, as well as the survivors and their condition afterward. Research
for the book was much easier given the extensive amount of photographs,
documents and other materials that were there for examination.

There are
numerous recordings of survivors who tell their stories. What really happened
to these men, in their own words, is found poetry. And the true story and their
experiences is far more profound and thrilling than any book any author could
every write.”

Spradlin also read other non-fiction
books about the incident, including Douglas Stanton’s In Harm’s Way.

The character development of Into The
Killing Seas was a difficult task because of its adult type theme.

“It’s not an easy topic.There’s death, destruction, horrific tragedy
and it’s all based on a true story.The
first characters that came to me were the brothers Patrick and Teddy.I knew I had to have characters the age of
the intended audience in the story.

What really crystalized
the story was Benny, the young marine who helps the boys. He doesn’t really
take part in much of the action, but his voice and his guidance of Patrick is
what makes the story come alive in my opinion.

When I first saw Benny
in my mind, I visualized the actor Jimmy Cagney. A lean, wiry guy with a tart
tongue. But in this case, Benny is a little more softhearted than the typical
Cagney character.

Then I was watching one
of my favorite movies “The Best Years of our Lives” and by listening to the
characters in that movie, their voices, the way people talked back then, the
cadence, the slang, it all came together.

Language evolves over
time. Even though the movie came out in 1946, it was close to the incident and
I think Dana Andrews’ character in the movie speaks a little like Benny does in
the book. When Benny became ‘real’ in my mind, all the elements in the story
fell into place and I started writing.”

Spradlin’s
technique of writing Into The Killing Seas was not to
give himself as the writer the power, but the characters the power.

“I use a (writing)
technique I call the ‘rainbow’ outline. It means I know where the story starts
and sort of where I want it to end, but in between I let the characters tell
the story and move the narrative. I’ve learned that they are generally much
smarter than me about what the story needs.

There’s no question, my
characters become very real to me. I do all the things every writer does. For
example, who would play them in the movie? Any writer who says they don’t do
that is lying! And they have a place in my subconscious that I think enables them
to communicate with me when I get off track. It’s almost like they tap me on
the shoulder and say, “hey, I would never say or do that.”

But I think once the
story is complete, I’m very rarely surprised by the characters. I share their
emotions in the sense that they’ve completed the mission or accomplished their
goal.”

Spradlin discovered that his characters
are most alive at night, like he is.Though he writes all the time, his most rewarding times to write is at
night.

“I’m a night owl by
nature and my mind is a little clearer and focused in the evening.I usually write 2 to three hours per day,
sometimes more.It really depends on how
the words are behaving. If they’re coming easy and I’m in a zone, I can easily
write longer. If it’s a struggle that’s usually a sign to go back to previous
chapters and do some revision until the dam breaks again.”

Spradlin
does most of his writing in the basement of his home in his book-lined office
that overlooks the woods, where is so engrossed in the story that he is not
even aware of the weather outside, but he is always aware of the atmosphere of
his office.

“My walls are covered
with book related ephemera, including a framed quote of the last line of The Great Gatsby, which my son got me
for my birthday. It’s my favorite line of all time. So we beat on, boats
against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.”

Besides
his laptop, pen, paper Spradlin needs two other things to write – a glass of
water and the radio broadcasting the Detroit Tigers’ baseball games.

“I’ve listened to baseball on the radio since
I was a kid and there is something about the rhythm of the game that relaxes
me.”

It
is in this relaxation that Spradlin is able to communicate with his characters
the best, and this is when his characters surprise him the most.

“The twist at the end of
Into the Killing Seas surprised me a
little bit. Even my editor (Jenne Abramowitz) said she didn’t see it coming,
which made me very happy.”

The most difficult part of the Into
The Killing Seas project was convincing an editor and publisher that
this type of book should be a book for middle grade readers, which Spradlin
finally did with Scholastic editor Jenne Abramowitz.

“I have a wonderful
editor, with a jewelers touch, and if something needs to go, she’s usually
right or else I need to rework it to make it better or more easily
understandable to the reader. I think this might have been one of the easiest
books I’ve ever written in terms of working on the editorial changes and
suggestions. It’s quite easy to become too close to the material when you’re
writing. You need that editorial relationship so that you don’t slow down the
narrative (and) to keep the story moving. They’re not just editors they are
readers also. And they give you invaluable input.”

The
very day that Scholastic offered him the contract for Into The Killing Seas was
both an exciting and memorable day.

“I
immediately thought of my father. He
died long before I was ever a published writer. But I thought to myself, I now
get to tell a story of the Greatest Generation. He was a veteran who served in
Europe and all of my World War II novels, including the upcoming Prisoner of War are homage to my father
and all of the men and women who served in World War II.”

On June 30,
2015 Scholastic Press published Michael P. Spradlin’s young adult historical
novel
Into the Killing Seas.

The
most compelling excerpt fromInto The Killing Seas for Spradlin
to write was the scene where Patrick and Teddy’s parents realize there are only
two seats available on the airplane out of Manila before the Japanese attack.

“As a parent, I wouldn’t
hesitate to give up my life for my children, but the instinct to hold them
close and protect them is so visceral. I think their parents’ sending them out
alone was beyond difficult and hard to imagine.”

There
was an elderly nun boarding the plane who was very sick, and she was flying to
San Francisco.I remember my mother
begging her to take Teddy and me with her.I remember it like it was yesterday.

“My
oldest – Patrick – he’s a good boy, Sister.He’s almost nine and he can help take care of you, if you’re not feeling
well.And Teddy will do whatever my Patrick
says,” my mother pleaded with her.“We’re from Detroit, we go to Most Holy Trinity every Sunday.”The nun’s name was Sister Felicity, and she
agreed to take us with her.

Then
I see my other, holding my face in her hands, demanding that I pay attention to
her.

“You
listen to me, Patrick, my sweet boy,” she said.“you and Teddy are going with Sister Felicity.This plane will eventually get you to San
Francisco.We’ll wire ahead and have
your aunt Maggie pick you up there.You
mind your manners and listen to the sister.And take care of Teddy.Promise
me you’ll take care of Teddy.Can you do
that for me?Your dad and I will be on
the next plane, right behind you.Do you
understand me, Patrick?”

My
dad knelt down in front of me and put his hand on my shoulder.

“It’s
going to be okay, champ,” he said.We’ll
be there before you know it.You mind
the sister now, okay?”

“I
will, Dad.I promise,” I said.

My
mother hugged me harder than she ever had in her life.Up until then, I’d never seen my dad with
tears in his eyes.It was the last time
I saw either of them.

Excerpt,
pages 3-4

One of the most common questions Spradlin
is asked, especially after over 20 novels, is if he is the actual writer of
every single novel?

“All of my own books are
100% me. I did co-write three books in the I, Q series with Roland Smith.

I do have writer friends
that I talk to but most of the times we don’t talk about specific plots. Some
were experts in certain areas before they were writers and I call on that
expertise. Some have connections that help me. A writer friend put me in touch
with Dr. Sonny Gruber who was really helpful in learning about shark behavior.
Turns out he’s one of the top two or three shark experts in the world. So there
is a ‘team’ in that sense. But the writing is all on me.”